


Feeling Good Don't Ever Cost a Thing; Your Love Has Always Been Enough For Me

by sweeterthankarma



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Cluster Reunion, F/F, F/M, Fluff and happiness, Fourth of July, Gen, M/M, Mention of Minor Character Death, Post-Season/Series Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 17:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16179785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweeterthankarma/pseuds/sweeterthankarma
Summary: It’s Riley who reaches out to the cluster to invite them to join her and Will in Chicago for the fourth of July, and sure, the others could just experience it through the two of them, but now that they all know what it’s like when it’s real, that’s simply not an option. Besides, they know Will needs them now, even if they pretend that his loss isn’t a big underlying part of the occasion.





	Feeling Good Don't Ever Cost a Thing; Your Love Has Always Been Enough For Me

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the song "Home" by Daughtry. I miss these characters more and more every day, and I'm never going to stop writing them.

It’s Riley who reaches out to the cluster to invite them to join her and Will in Chicago for the fourth of July, although the idea had been stirring around in Will’s mind long before she could even feel it. He’s tried not to think about how fast-approaching the holiday is, not wanting to remember how soon it will be until he has to do the same traditions again, only with this time being completely different. 

He’s never celebrated the fourth without his dad before. 

After  _ it _ happened, he barely had any time to grieve. Too much had been going on, with Riley and Sun and Wolfgang and everyone, and he’d focused on that rather than the hole growing in his own heart. But now, he doesn’t think he’s going to be able to avoid it.

He’s still excited, though, because the cluster immediately agrees to come, and they invite their loved ones — Amanita, Hernando, Dani, Mun, Felix, a nd everyone else who they all consider to be apart of the cluster by default now . They have to take time off from work to make the trip, and sure,  the six of them could just experience it through Will and Riley, but now that they all know what it’s like when it’s  _ real,  _ that’s simply not an option. Besides, they know Will needs them now, even if they pretend that his loss isn’t a big underlying part of the occasion. 

They miss each other, anyways, and even more than that, being physically together just feels right. Whenever they’re apart, there’s an ache that no amount of visiting can soothe. 

Capheus is the most excited, of course, and Nomi knows he’s still reeling off the high of the fireworks that took place at her wedding nearly a year ago. 

    “How could I not be?” he says, grinning to her as he settles into his window seat on the plane to Chicago. “I can’t wait to see more.”

Then, he turns to Riley, who’s sitting behind him reading with her headphones in, so invested in her book that she barely notices where Capheus has brought her.

    “And how could I not be excited to be on a plane again?” he says with an even brighter smile. “Flying above the clouds!”

Riley smiles and squeezes his shoulder, reaching through the space between the two seats to find the fabric of his shirt.

    “I’ll see you soon, okay?” Riley says. “I can’t wait for you to see Chicago.”

    “Me too,” he replies, and his eyes are bright and eager as always, endlessly filled with light despite the darkness he’s seen — the darkness they’ve all seen.

Amanita calls Nomi’s name from somewhere further back in the thrift store they’re in; they’ve been searching for hand me down fourth of July costumes and finding ridiculous outfits from the late seventies that they absolutely  _ must  _ buy.

Nomi’s absence lends Riley her seat, and she gives Capheus a quick hug now that she can do so easier before leaving.

    “I have to go help Will set up, but call me as soon as you land,” she insists, and Capheus laughs at that.

    “That may be awhile.”

She glances at the screen on the seatback in front of him, raising her eyebrows.  _ Seventeen hours and thirty five minutes until landing.  _

 “I’m sure I’ll see you before then,” she says. “If you get bored, you can always check in on us.”

Capheus gives her a surprised look. “Me? Bored of living life, soaring above the clouds? Never.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Riley sees Kala’s lips curl up into a drowsy smile at that, even if only briefly. She’s on her own flight already, half asleep with Wolfgang at her side, any worries she’s ever had about flying no longer an issue as soon as she became connected to Capheus. In fact, his courage has made them all stronger, whether they realize it or not. They wouldn’t be who they are without each other, and every day they’re apart they’re reminded of that fact more and more.

Nomi and Amanita are the first to arrive, and while the fact that they live only a four hour flight away definitely makes it easier, but they’re clearly the most excited, too. They come bearing more confetti and ribbons in a suitcase than Will thinks he’s ever seen in a party store, and they have almost enough outfits for everyone. 

When Wolfgang arrives, he rolls his eyes at the exaggerated explosion of red, white and blue that decks nearly every inch of Will and Riley’s apartment, but he’s smiling so hard his cheeks hurt anyways. When Kala brings him a tall and rather wobbly plastic hat that reads, “kiss me, I’m American,” he mumbles something in disdain about being German and she laughs, flirting back in Hindi before slinging her arms around his neck and fitting his mouth against hers. 

Lito and Hernando come bringing the same onesies that Amanita has, printed head to toe with the American flag, and they laugh about it the coincidence for so long they don’t even notice Sun when she first walks in, luggage in one hand and Mun’s arm in the other. 

    “What the hell am I looking at?” Sun says, and she’s pretending to judge them, she’s  _ trying  _ to judge them but she can’t when they’re here and they’re together and they’re her family.

That word, “family,” is exactly what Lito yells when he turns to see Sun, and he rushes her into a bear hug, taking Mun, Will, Kala, and Wolfgang along with him as he forms a massive group hug. Daniela snaps a picture from behind the kitchen counter where she’s mixing drinks with Amanita and Riley. 

It ends up being too hot to wear the onesies anyways, a new record high setting the city ablaze for the long weekend. It works out in their favor anyways, since they spend most of their time on the beaches or wandering around the streets where the breeze still reaches them. When the night rolls around, and after Lito’s signed too many autographs for too many fans, although none of them mind— he’s finally getting the international success he deserves with the soon to be released “Iberian Dreams.”

    “I’m so happy!” he yells later that night, voice echoing across the Chicago River as they settle into their chairs spread out across the boat dock. Lito leans down to touch the water, and while he’s over dramatic as always, he’s also a little drunk so it takes a quick Hernando to keep him from falling in when he leans too far.

    “Come on, baby, sit,” Hernando urges, never scolding, and Daniela watches on with affinity as Lito kisses him exaggeratedly before doing as he asks and taking a seat between them both.

Capheus lets out a holler as soon as the show starts, and a few minutes in he pulls out his phone to video chat Zakia.

    “You look beautiful,” he says like he always does as soon as she picks up and her face comes into focus, and Wolfgang smiles when he feels how quick Capheus’ heartbeat races at the mere sight of her. 

Kala squeezes his hand, knowing and relating to the same feeling, and Wolfgang’s about to say he loves her when Felix comes bustling over with two six-packs of beer in his arms. He says it anyways. 

    “Oh, I have something for you too,” Felix says to Kala, pausing for suspense before pulling out a medium sized bottle of dark pink colored wine he’d somehow managed to fit in his back pocket and keep there without dropping. 

Kala audibly gasps. “How’d you know?!” she asks, clutching the bottle close to her chest as her eyes dart between him and her boyfriend.

    “He already told me I had to buy you a Christmas present since you’d be coming to visit,” Felix says, taking a seat besides Wolfgang and cracking open a beer with his shirtsleeve. “My first thought was alcohol.”

Kala laughs. “Well, don’t waste your money on a keg, I don’t drink nearly enough. But this is my favorite, thank you, Felix.”

He dips his head in acknowledgement, takes another swig of his beer, and then lets out a cheer in tune with Capheus in tune with the next explosion of color. 

Riley doesn’t drink anymore, at least not on nights like this. She’s found herself not wanting to, either; she used to dry to drown herself and live in a haze of fleeting euphoria, bittersweet because she knew it was all temporary, but now, and ever since she’s found a real place to call home, she doesn’t need to. 

She still takes a sip of Will’s beer when he offers it, mainly just because she can feel his own anxieties and the way he can barely swallow his first mouthful; she wants to console him in any way she can, and she feels the way his breathing steadies when their fingers brush while passing the bottle. 

She scoots her chair closer to him before intertwining their fingers, her free hand moving to cover the back of his. Anything and everything she can do to touch him, to ease his mind, to be here, to let him know everything is going to be okay— she’ll do it.

    “Do you want to go for a walk?” she thinks into his mind, and he hesitates before shaking his head.

    “Are you sure?” she says out loud, and he squeezes her hand. 

    “I’m okay, Riles,” Will says, meeting her eyes for the first time since the show had begun. She sees a few tear lines etched down his face and immediately reaches over to brush them away, murmuring words of encouragement before she even decides what to say.

She keeps her hand pressed to his cheek, cradling his face, and he nuzzles a kiss against the back of her hand slow as he closes his eyes.

“It’s not the same,” Will says sadly, looking back out over the water. It’s beautiful — his city is beautiful, his girlfriend (soon to be fiancée, if all goes well, which he thinks it will because he’s noticed her looking at Nomi and Amanita’s rings a little more often than usual these past few days) is beautiful, his family is beautiful, his life is beautiful.

But he still misses his dad. He’s never done this without him.

Riley keeps her eyes on him for a long time, rueful even as he focuses on the fireworks. 

    “I know,” is all she says. It’s all she can say. It’s all she needs to say.

    “But…” Will starts, clearing his throat and sitting up a little straighter, and Riley recognizes that tone, the hope in his voice. “The last time I was here, I never dreamed I’d be lucky enough to be with you.  _ Really  _ with you, like this.” He looks down at their fingers, still interlaced tight, and he can’t help but smile; Riley does too. 

    “I know,” she replies, voice a little airy. “I never thought I’d be able to do this.”

She leans over to kiss him, languid and with as much feeling as she can manage from her position in the rather uncomfortable lawn chair. She relishes in the familiarity of his lips on hers, of the scary newness that comes with every day that somehow seems manageable with him by her side. She thinks love into his mind and feels him reciprocate it, feels him grow and heal from it.

    “Over and over again,” she murmurs against his lips the same time he says, “every single day,” and she reluctantly pulls away, diverting her attention back to the grand finale happening above them with a fierce grin on her face. 

    “I never thought we’d be with them,” she adds once it’s almost over, tilting her head to watch her cluster as their faces light up in rainbow colors, mirrored from the sky. Sun is sitting between Mun’s legs, her back to his chest as he stretches out near one of the chairs that had broken on the walk here. Nomi and Amanita half-sit, half-lay on each other’s laps, unnecessary quilt at their feet that Riley knows was knitted by Amanita’s mother; she sees a memory of Christmas, of Amanita opening up the pink, blue, and purple blanket and smiling knowingly at both her mother and her girlfriend, now wife. 

Capheus has moved out of his chair onto the ground, looking up at the sky with his chin in his palm and his feet crossed underneath him. They all feel him think “I love it here.”

Kala does, too, and if Wolfgang’s being honest, he likes anything she likes. Besides, Felix got a girl’s number at the convenience store earlier, and they all have a good feeling about this one. 

Lito’s sobering up, but he’s as high as he could ever be. Hernando’s head rests on his shoulder, Daniela starts clapping and cheering long before the last firework goes off, over excited, and Capheus joins her, and then Riley and then Will and then they’re all clapping, loud and happy and alive. 

When it’s all over, they wait for most of the boats to pass them before even getting out of their seats. Daniela talks about wanting deep dish pizza, despite having it for lunch, and Amanita enthusiastically seconds that.

    “All the places are going to be filled,” Wolfgang comments, although not dismissively. He’s down to stay up all night, wait in too long lines for whatever they want, whenever they want.

Will stands, folding his chair and saddling up for his position as tour guide once again, before saying, “not true, I know just the place.”

Riley grins. “My favorite,” she says, quiet enough that only Will can really hear her, and he does, pulling her close into his side in response. 

As they walk towards Bartoli’s, Riley shares the memory with them all: her first night in Chicago with Will, they had gone to this restaurant and ordered everything they could possibly want; an act of recklessness and frivolity, no doubt, but an expression of freedom, too. They had just gotten off their flight from France, and they home safe, allowed to live without watching their backs for the first time. It’s been Riley’s favorite ever since, and Will’s too.

    “Wait, what?” Dani asks when every sensate around her lets out a sigh, all smiling, suddenly understanding. Riley laughs and tells the story again, this time aloud.

When they get to the restaurant, they slip into a round extra large booth that’s too small for all of them together, and brush it off when the waiter looks at them, concerned. 

    “This is fine, believe me,” Wolfgang assures him. “We’ve been closer.”

They share a look, and Will rolls his eyes while Kala blushes, Sun focuses on aligning her silverware perfectly straight, and Capheus just sips his beer mug filled with water, covered with a worn engraving of a Cubs logo, unbothered. 

    “This is the best fourth of July ever,” he announces once he puts the cup down, breaking the silence as Hernando, Daniela, Mun, and Felix all share confused looks and Nomi tries to keep from laughing. Meanwhile, Amanita is smug, clearly knowing.

    “It is,” Sun replies, nodding. “It’s also many of our first celebrations.”

    “Okay, you’re right, so next year will be hard to top!” he exclaims, his words immediately swallowed by the commotion of the loud pub around him. “But we can do it!”

    “I have no doubt in my mind,” Will says, earnest, and Riley looks up at him, relieved to see his eyes dry and bright.

He looks down at her, and presses a quick kiss to her forehead, the conversation around them already changing.

    “You okay?” she asks, even though she already knows the answer.

    “I’m okay,” he replies, and he knows he is, that he will be, now and always, as long as he has his cluster by his side, now and forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me in the comments or at my Tumblr @sweeterthankarma, where I'm forever wishing we had a million more seasons of these beautiful characters together.


End file.
